Leave Edward ALONE
by daiisssyy
Summary: Jess is hitting on Edward. She's one Crazy ass motherfucker. Warning, lots of swearing.
1. Chapter 1

_Okay… basically, Jessica is hitting on Edward. I haven't yet decided whether she's going to turn into a mental freak who ends up being like, put in a mental hospital, or whether it's just going to be a short one about Bella having to stop Jessica. Probably the latter cos then I can involve a fight, haha._

_So enjoy guys. Reviews are welcomed with open arms… and feel free to message me too about anything you may want to happen next. Thank you!_

**BPOV**.  Cos I love her.

"Where's Edward today?" Jessica asked me, a little too interested, as always. I couldn't feel any resentment towards her for being interested though, most people were, Edward being the most gorgeous boy in Forks. Probably in the whole of the USA. Who knows? Who cares? Not me, I had him all to myself.

"Gone camping with his family," I smiled at Jess. I was the only one at school who knew the real reason why Edward wasn't attending school today – because it was bright sunshine (for once) and he wouldn't want anyone to find out that he was a supernatural being, by showing off his sparkling body in the rays of the sun.

"Oh," Jess looked relatively disappointed, bless her. It must be hard not be jealous. I would be the actual green-eyed monster if Edward was with my best friend. I'd probably stab the fucker he was seeing.

I sat and thought about Edward for the rest of the lunch break, until the ringing bell snapped me out of my reverie. I looked up to see students start to leave the cafeteria for their next lesson, mine being Biology. Without Edward – sigh. The little bastard got out of school so easily! He never even got asked for reasons why he had been off! Must be that smile. SIGH – again!

Biology passed quickly and I was glad when the bell went. I went happily to my warm truck, feeling relief when I got inside as the weather had taken a downturn and gone chilly. I pulled out of the parking lot and took the familiar route home to my house. Everything was as normal until I got to a set of traffic lights which always seemed to turn red as I got there. As I sat in my truck, waiting for the signal for me to go, I glanced Jessica on the sidewalk. I was about to wave at her and considered offering her a lift until I realised that she was already staring at me. She had her phone in her hand which was pressed to her ear and she was just stood there, like a gormless bitch, staring at me.

"Hello?" I called out of the window I had just unwound.

"Hi." That was all she said. "Gotta go babe, I love you." She muttered into her phone. The reply she got was clearly one that she didn't want, as she shouted into the phone as she marched away from me. "FINE! Be that way! You always act as if you don't want me, but I KNOW you do!"

Wow, I thought. Someone's been having a secret relationship; it wasn't all the time that you said I love you babe to someone random. Yes, Jessica was hiding something.

I jumped as the person behind my truck beeped at me. I stuck my middle finger up at them through the back window and told them to swivel on it. Fucking road rage.

I got back home and parked my truck neatly- which made a change. The fucking thing was so old; it didn't DESERVE to be parked properly. I opened the front door with the key from under the eave like I always did, and went into the kitchen as I always did. I didn't even understand why I ever made Charlie tea as he never deserved it, all he ever did was sit in the living room and watch 'the game.' There was always a game on, no matter what time of day it was. If there happened to be a 'no game day' which was celebrated once every year, Charlie would probably still be able to find one somewhere. Unsociable.

I made his tea-again- and mine, lasagne. Charlie arrived in the kitchen about halfway through my own food and willingly took his into the living room, probably to watch a game. I finished my tea soon after, but I remained at the table, not able to move. I was completely in my own little world, having a full-on day dream about Edward. I told myself that he would be home soon… nothing to worry about. I sighed and picked up my plate. I washed it in the sink and then dried it. It annoyed me to have to do it by hand but Charlie spent all his money on fish. Fish for godsakes. Fish, fish and more fucking fish. I was about to go upstairs and do my homework like the little goody-two-shoes I was when the phone rung. "I'll get it," I called to Charlie, though, no doubt he hadn't even moved his arse one inch.

"Hello?" I spoke into the receiver.

"Ciao Bella." Funny how everyone always thought I hadn't heard that one before, I wasn't Italian! I was American for crying out loud.

"EDWARD! How come you're home so early? I thought you were hunting?" I was so full of glee that he was home early that I didn't really care about the answers to my questions. He answered them anyway – so efficient.

"I was, but I finished quickly. Then I had some… business to take care of, don't worry about it. At least I'm home now."

"Business?"

"Yeah, like I said, it doesn't matter, don't worry about it."

To be quite frank, I couldn't give a damn if he had just framed the President for murder. That's what love does to you, I guess.

I went to sit in the living room with Charlie for a bit, surprised when I saw no ball game on the screen. He seemed to be watching a crappy commercial for a machine that claimed to cut up all of your vegetables for you. As if he would need that… he never cooked! He was evidently bored by the 'no game' situation, as he actually made the effort to talk to me.

"Good day Bells?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was ok. Normal day I guess."

"Didn't you enjoy the good weather then?" he asked. It was odd of him to actually care about whether I had enjoyed the weather or not because he normally just told me to stop moaning if I said anything about the endless fucking rain and cold.

"Yeah it was great Dad, really made a difference don't you think?" I replied.

"Hey! It's not always that bad here. Forks sometimes has its good days." There he went, sticking up for crappy Forks again.

"Yeah." Was all I commented on the matter. "I'm going to bed now Dad, see you tomorrow, love you."

"Night."

I went upstairs and into my room. I sat on my old bed for a bit and felt myself drifting to sleep, whilst still in my clothes that I had worn during the day. The light was also on, and my window was closed. First things first, I told myself, get changed. I grabbed my toiletries bag and went to the bathroom at the top of the stairs. In there, I changed into an old baggy top and sweats, had a quick brush of my teeth and then realised I hadn't even gone for a shower. I was so tired I was even forgetting about general hygiene. In the morning, I decided. I didn't know what had brought this sudden tiredness on, but I wasn't enjoying it. It was completely messing me up. I went back into my room and crossed to my closed window. I couldn't remember for a moment why it would be a problem that it was closed.

"Edward," I scolded myself. He needed the window to be open so that he could get in and come and see me. I shoved it open wide and went back to sit on my bed. After remembering about Edward, I was suddenly wide awake and impatient to see him again after not having contact with him – excluding the phone call earlier- for two days. With a sigh, I realised it was only just gone 9'o, clock. Edward wouldn't be arriving for at least another hour. I rested my head down on my pillow and wracked my brain for something to do. Sleep was clearly evading me at the moment, so a nap was out of the question. I considered reading for a moment, but I didn't want to get so wound up in the book that I was still trapped in a fantasy world when Edward got here. After a few more minutes of careful thinking- eliminating the more unrealistic options, such as white water rafting – I was set on listening to some music. I got out my old music player and plugged the headphones into the side. I put it down onto my bed whilst I went to look for a good CD that would while away the time. Ever since meeting Edward, my knowledge of music had grown dramatically and I was now housing over 300 CDs. I knew what I wanted before I had even crossed my room to the shelves where my music collection sat. I picked up my 'School Boy Humor' CD. Edward probably wouldn't like this CD, as it was an American boy band who sang songs about matters that weren't particularly deep. However, I absolutely loved them (sort of a little secret) and Edward wasn't here, so he wouldn't have to listen. I sat back down on my bed and put the CD in the player. Then I sat against my headboard and relaxed with my eyes closed. I seemed to get through the CD quickly and I went to swap 'School Boy Humor' with my CD that Edward had made for me. It was all slow piano songs, a million miles away from 'School Boy Humor' but I loved it all the same. I played my lullaby over about three times, as every time it ended, I wanted more. Time passed and I was so caught up in the music that when Edward tapped my shoulder, I jumped about 10 feet into the air.

"Edward! You scared me, don't do that! At least fucking warn me," I told him as my heartbeat slowed down.

He laughed, unrepentant.

I just scowled at him. He started to scowl back at me, and we found ourselves having a silly little staring competition. He won, obviously.

"Anyway Bella, now that you have stopped being a moody bitch—"

"Moody bitch!? You shouldn't have made me jump then!" I moaned. I knew he was joking though, and I found it ever so hard to be angry with him. He winked at me then carried on with what he was saying before.

"No seriously Bella. I have to talk to you. It's pretty important."

"Oh." His face had turned serious and I knew that now he wasn't joking. "What's wrong?"

"Jessica." One word. One word that had no effect on me whatsoever. What could Jessica have done wrong?

"Ok, Edward, tell me about it tomorrow." I wanted to be doing more interesting things then talking about unimportant issues with Edward. He was known for being a bit over dramatic at times.

"No Bella, now please. She has… she's been…"

"Tell me then," I said. This was boring me immensely.

"She has been, hitting on me. She tried to kiss me. She wants to _be_ with me, and I don't know what to do."

Crazy ass motherfucker. Those were the words that ran through my head at the statement Edward had provided me with. Jessica? Hitting on my boyfriend? CRAZY. ASS. MOTHER. FUCKER.

How dare she!?


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks to 'SweetXSacrifice' and 'The Stalker of FanFiction', because they really encouraged me to do this chapter, and gave me good advice. ____. Err… chapter 2. It's got less swearing for all you people who seem to have an issue with that, okay? Enjoy._

I tried to leave the house then and go straight to Jessica's house, but Edward was adamant on stopping me. He grabbed me around the waist and put me back down on the bed as soon as I had got up.

"What are you doing Edward?" I practically screamed.

"Shh Bella! You'll wake Charlie and besides, there's nothing you can do about it now, it's the middle of the night for goodness sake!" he whispered at me.

I couldn't even retaliate because I was so fuming. There was a red haze in front of my eyes as I thought of Jessica as I had seen her earlier that day. I remembered her yelling into her phone, telling her secret love that 'she knew he wanted her'. Oh crap.

"Edward?" I asked quietly trying to keep the emotion out of my voice. "You haven't…you know? You haven't _done_ anything with her have you?"

His eyes turned soft and he started to rub my back. "No Bella. Of course not, do you still not realise that I love you. You and no one else, I promise."

I nodded and lied down. I had to believe what he had just told me, if I, for one second, doubted it, I would probably do something I would regret later on. Such as telling Edward to leave. If I did do that, I would regret it badly, and it would take a while to get him to believe that I didn't mean it.

Edward lied down next to me and took me in his arms. We stayed like that for what felt like hours and I listened calmly as he comforted me, telling me that the whole issue could be sorted out with a few words on our behalf to Jessica. I had a feeling that it wouldn't go like that, and that I would get seriously angry. The thought was kind of appealing. I pushed it from my mind though, knowing it would only bring back the haze in front of my eyes. I looked out the window into the night, as Edward's words formed a bubble of numbness in my head. Eventually, I fell asleep.

"Edward?" I croaked groggily when I woke in the morning.

"I'm here Bella," I heard from across the room.

I sat up and was confused when I saw him stood right at my door. Then it clicked. And boy, did it click hard. Jessica. That was the only word that ran through my head.

"Move please." I motioned for Edward to get out of my way, but he didn't budge an inch.

"Please!"

"No Bella. You're not going over there. You can see her at school, where you'll be surrounded by an audience."

I scowled at him. "And what difference will an audience make?"

"Hopefully the difference between whether the 'talking' is going to end up as a fight."

I could see that he was trying to make this as easy as possible. I decided to behave.

"Okay Edward," I told him. "I will not go and see her today. I would like to ring her though, just to get a few things straight."

He rolled his eyes but let me pass all the same. I stopped quickly at the top of the stairs to check if the cruiser was gone, so I knew if it was safe to bring Edward down. It wasn't there, so I turned to let Edward know. Unsurprisingly, he was already behind me, ready to follow down the stairs. I went straight into the kitchen and to the phone. Jessica's number was stored in the phonebook so all I had to was speed-dial it.

Edward stood opposite me, near the back windows across the room. His face looked torn, he clearly wanted me to do what I felt like doing, but it hurt him all the same. I guessed it was because he wasn't able to stick up for me as he must have wanted to.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. I was getting no answer. Finally, the ringing noise stopped, only to be replaced by the answer machine.

"Hey, this is Jess," Jess the boyfriend-stealer, I added in my head, "Leave a message, ciao."

I thought it through in my head quickly. I didn't want to give much away; otherwise she wouldn't ring me back. "Hey Jess, it's Bella. I need to have a word – I need to talk to you – urgently. Ring me back as soon as you get this please." I slammed the phone back down on the hook and turned to Edward, steam practically coming out of my ears.

"That friendly enough for you?" I asked him.

He nodded at me. "Breakfast?"

"I'll get it myself, thanks." I turned my back to him and got out a bowl into which I poured cereal and milk. I grabbed a spoon out of the drawer and went into the living room, not stopping to check if Edward was following me. I didn't care if he was or not, he was infuriating me. Why was he so against me fighting with Jessica? She deserved it. She deserved it SO much.

I half-collapsed onto the sofa and turned the television on. I was aware of Edward parking himself next to me, but I made a point of keeping my head turned away from him, staring at the screen of the T.V and nothing else. I kept my head on the screen for the duration of my breakfast. I wasn't really watching it though; I had my mind on more important issues. I only snapped out of the daydream I was having – severely hurting Jessica- when I heard the familiar jingle from the advert about the machine that cut up your vegetables for you. I sighed and decided to make a move. It was a nice day outside again, I realised with relief. That meant that I could get out of the house and try to forget about the whole Jessica thing until tomorrow. I went back into the kitchen, washed my cereal bowl, dried it, and then put it away in the cupboard below the sink. Edward was already in my room by the time I got there, but I studiously ignored him as before. I knew the whole thing wasn't his fault – really. It wasn't his fault that he was so absolutely gorgeous that everybody wanted him. However, I didn't want to talk to him because I was too afraid that my mouth would open before I thought about what I was going to say, so I decided to keep it safely closed.

A shower was first on my agenda, having not gone for one the night before. I grabbed my toiletries bag and made my way out of my room. I grabbed a towel from the airing cupboard as I passed it and then went into the bathroom. As soon as I closed the bathroom door, I let out a big sigh. It was nice to be myself and be able to think over the situation without someone watching me and studying my face- which was what Edward always did. I turned the shower on and let the hot water run for a bit. I undressed and then tested the shower. I liked it hot, but not enough that it burned, so I turned the cold water on slightly. When I had it just as I liked it, I stepped in. It felt so relaxing that I ended up concentrating on the water instead of thinking about the problem at hand, as I should have done. The shower started to get colder and I realised with a sinking feeling that the hot water was running out. I was thoroughly enjoying the shower; it was making me pleasantly numb. I shut the water off reluctantly and got out. My towel was warm from being on the radiator and I wrapped myself in it. After a while of standing there – wasting my life away – I set about brushing my teeth then getting dressed. I wore black shorts and an orange vest top to celebrate the weather. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail after I had dried it, to stop it from irritating me all day. I still hadn't decided on where I wanted to go but I knew I wanted to do something… out of the ordinary. I didn't want to go to the library or to the beach in La Push. I didn't want to see anyone I knew – except for Edward.

When I got back into my room, Edward was sat on my bed looking forlorn. I thought that now was the time to say something, he looked hurt.

"What's up?" I asked him. I meant it to sound concerned but it came out a bit rudely.

"Just... I don't want you to hate Jessica for this. She doesn't seem to know how badly she's affected you, and anyway, you two have been best friends since you arrived in Forks practically. You don't want to waste your friendship with her because she's done something slightly wrong," he told me.

"Edward! She's trying to steal my boyfriend! Wouldn't you be a bit annoyed if someone tried to steal me away from you?"

"Of course I would Bella. But I would let you go with them if you wanted to."

"So what are you saying? I should let you go? Edward… do you want to go?"

Again, as last night, his eyes turned comforting and even a bit hurt. "No Bella, I don't. All I'm saying is that I think you should take things slowly with her. She's obviously going to be a bit hurt if you turn on her. Try and take care of it as maturely as possible."

I was getting angry again so I simply nodded at him.

I sorted out some laundry, knowing that Charlie wouldn't bother doing it later. That fat-ass had trouble getting up the stairs sometimes. When I had done that, Edward asked me a question that had been bugging me.

"What would you like to do today?"

I stopped wiping the window that I was cleaning and thought about that.

"Something… different please." I requested.

His mind, working super-fast, as always came up with the best suggestion possible.

"How about we go hiking?"

Normally, I would be opposed to hiking. It was just a danger zone for me, but today it seemed appealing. It was hot, and I felt like doing something active that would require my full concentration. Besides, hiking normally meant Edward would run with me on his back for some of the way, and that was something I could do all day, everyday. "I would love to go hiking," I told Edward with a smile. He seemed genuinely pleased that he had thought of a suitable activity.

We set off half an hour later, straight to the woods by my house. The trail through the woods was starting to fade, no one bothered to hike here anymore, ever since the 'animal' trouble a while back. Surely if they knew that it was actually La Push residents transforming into overgrown wolves, to protect them from other beings, such as vampires… they wouldn't be so scared. Anyway, it wasn't like I ever needed to use a trail with Edward there. He preferred to go the hardest way possible. The hardest way always seemed to have a large amount of upturned roots and hidden holes for me to trip over and fall into – not that I cared. He was always there to pick me back up. We set off to the East, neither of us actually knowing where we were headed. We hiked for about ten minutes in silence until Edward suggested we walked in a large circle so that we ended up back where we started.

"Sure, but obviously, you're going to have to direct us. Not all of us have impeccable memory." I laughed at the thought of me trying to lead us through the woods. Everything looked the same to me, all of the trees were just large _things_ with brown trunks and green leaves. I laughed again at the sound of my laughter the first time. It was ironic how I could be so happy when I had such a big problem. My heart fluttered when I looked up at Edward in front of me and realised that it was because of _him_ that I was so happy. Literally, my hero.

"We're about three quarters of the way around Bella. We should be back in about an hour," Edward turned to tell me.

"Oh," I sighed.

"What? Is there something wrong?" Edward asked.

"Please can you run?"

Edward laughed. He looked ecstatic at the thought of running. He seemed to completely phase out while running and that was another reason why I loved it. I loved to see him happy. He backtracked to where I was stood and swung me onto his back effortlessly. I hung on around his neck and put my legs around his waist.

"Ready?" He asked me with a wink.

I giggled and he took that a yes.

Suddenly we were flying, or that's how it seemed. The trees were blurred so much that they appeared to be a solid brown and green wall to me. No doubt Edward could still see everything in perfect detail as he ran at about eight miles an hour. Not once did he stumble or nearly hit a tree. We swerved in and out of the trees on the rugged terrain for a very short time. It always shocked me how we got to our destination in a matter of a few hours, when technically it should take a lot longer. He put me down gently and I smiled at him.

"Thanks for the ride." I told him.

"No problem, love," he replied.

I took his hand and together we walked back to my house. It had been about three and a half hours since we left, and Charlie was still not back. I went straight to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of apple juice.

"Sorry, I'm all out of blood," I said to Edward sadly. He slapped his thigh, pretending to be disappointed. I laughed.

The rest of the day passed slowly. Edward and I watched T.V, talked and kissed. It was an excellent day… until I heard the phone beep. It was signalling that it had a voice message for me. I leaped up, all of a sudden remembering Jessica. I ran into the kitchen and pressed the voice-mail button.

"You have one new message," said the answering machine mechanically, in its weird accent. I gave Edward a look out of the corner of my eye, but he was stood there, casual and calm. I waited for the phone to give me my message; it seemed to be taking longer than usual.

"Message one," it said. Then on came a voice I didn't want to hear. "Hey it's Sam, Charlie. I was wondering if you had any more information on the vandalism case? If so, please ring me as soon as possible, goodbye."

The deep voice that boomed through the house maddened me. Jessica clearly had some idea that I knew what was going on; otherwise she would have rang me back by now. I calmed myself down quickly, not wanting to frustrate Edward.

"Maybe she hasn't heard the message yet?" Edward said, trying to reassure me. I nodded and smiled. I told him to follow me back into the living room, where we had been before. He followed and we spent the rest of the day watching television. I was thinking about what to do tomorrow. I didn't know if I should go and see her at her house or whether to just leave it until Monday at school. I didn't want to take things too far, but I was just so _ready_ to hit out.

I fell asleep that night in Edward's arms as usual but my dreams didn't bring me any solutions to my crappy problem.


	3. Chapter 3

_Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I get bored easily. Just an FYI; it was so weird using the words 'mom' and 'grocery store' because I'm not American, just thought I'd share that with you, haha._

Sunday was a rubbish day. It rained all day and it was far too cold to step one foot out of the house. For the most part of the morning, I stayed in my room with Edward listening to music until I heard Charlie leave the house to go to Sue Clearwater's. They totally had something going on together now. I was happy for Charlie because it had taken him so long to get over the love he had for my Mom. When he had left the house, Edward and I went downstairs. I went into the kitchen to check out the food supplies. I hadn't been to the grocery store in a while and we were running low on everything, even the basic things like butter and milk. I got out the last piece of bread and shoved it into the toaster. I'd have to have it dry without any spread on it. I thought momentarily about going to the store but after a look at the trees outside nearly getting blown away, I scrapped that idea. Edward had noticed the lack of food in the house.

"Bella… would you like me to get some food for you? I can be there and back in five minutes."

"Please." I laughed. He stood up and headed for the door, but turned before he walked out.

"Oh, and Bella?" Edward started mockingly, "are you actually planning on getting dressed today?"

I glanced at the clock on the wall by the door and was shocked when I saw that it was half past twelve.

"I'll be back soon." And with that, he left.

My toast popped up and I went to get it out of the toaster. I didn't bother with a plate; instead, I just ate it over the sink. It definitely wasn't the nicest breakfast I had ever had but I managed to swallow it. There wasn't anything better I could have had. After I finished my toast, I went and sat down in a chair by the table. It just so happened, that I was facing the telephone. My jaw set in place and I realised that now was my chance. I could ring Jessica now, while Edward wasn't here so that I didn't have to look at the hurt on his face. I nodded, convincing myself that it was the right thing to do.

I picked up the receiver and took a deep breath. If she actually answered, I wouldn't know what to say. I speed-dialled her number and waited impatiently while it rung. On the fourth ring, she answered.

"Hello?"

"Jessica, it's Bella. Did you get my voicemail? I've needed to talk to you for a few days, yet you never rang me back. Are you busy?"

"Bella… yeah I'm busy actually. Sorry I have—"

"No Jessica. I would like to talk now." When I had asked if she was busy, I didn't actually give a damn about the answer. "I figure that you know what the problem is."

"No." She answered. She was such a liar; she knew perfectly well what the problem was and what part she played in it.

"Jessica, you are trying to steal Edward off me. Don't play dumb… I know that that's what you're trying to do. But it isn't going to work."

"Bella. I – I don't really know what to say… I'd rather talk to you face to face."

"Bella?" A different voice to Jess's called me. Edward – damn it! "Bella? What are you doing?" He was stood by the door now and it was clear that he already knew what I was doing before he even asked. I groaned and hung up the phone without another word to Jessica.

"Don't even bother to lecture me."

"I wasn't planning on it."

I turned and headed for the stairs, my sole mission to get dressed. I grabbed some random clothes and went to the bathroom. There, I had a quick wash and shoved on my clothes. There was no way I was going to leave the house today because of the state of the weather. I brushed my teeth and then went to my room. Edward was sat on my bed looking out of my window. I sighed and decided I couldn't resist the urge to go and hug him. He opened his arms in welcome and I obliged happily. I looked at his face as I sat on his lap and realised that the dark circles under his eyes were starting to make their first appearance, though his eyes were still golden.

"Edward? Are you thirsty?" I asked.

"A little… I was thinking about it to be honest. Would you mind terribly if I went hunting today?"

"Aw Edward! It was only like two days ago that you went hunting. Surely you're not that bad?"

A sheepish smile appeared on his face. "I'm not bad, but if I waited it would mean that I would have to hunt tomorrow during school."

"And that would be bad because…?" I asked. It wasn't like he was bothered about missing lessons.

"Because, I want to be there when you try and rip Jessica's head off. She really doesn't deserve that."

I gritted my teeth. "Oh doesn't she?"

Edward shook his head and chuckled. "Everyone has crushes Bella… I'm sure you did too."

"As a matter of fact, I never did have any crushes."

He rolled his eyes. He clearly didn't believe me.

Monday was eventful to say the least.

Edward gave me a lift to school as usual, his eyes a warm golden colour and the circles under his eyes erased. He was beautiful.

We walked hand in hand into school after Edward had parked his car, chatting about the day ahead. I hadn't thought about Jessica so far, and if I hadn't had seen her there across the lot stood next to Mike, I probably wouldn't have remembered at all.

Edward's hand tightened on mine but I was furious, mustering the strength from somewhere to rip my hand from his and storm across the lot towards Jessica. I knew that he wouldn't be happy with me later, but we were in the middle of school with various students milling around us. He couldn't stop me now.

"JESSICA!" I screamed before I had reached her, people looked at me but I was past caring. Jessica was going to pay for hitting on MY boyfriend.

She snapped her head up in alarm. As she caught sight of my face, which must have been as red as a tomato not to mention the bared teeth, she ducked her head and got away as fast as she could without physically running.

"BITCH! GET HERE NOW JESSICA! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE, NOW FACE THE CONSEQUENCES! I HATE YOU! GET HERE! GET. HERE."

She paid me no attention, not even looking back to see where I was. I was focused on my advance. Edward had his hand around my waist, but it wasn't restraining.

"JESSICA. I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU DO NOT TURN AROUND AND FACE ME NOW, THEN I'LL MAKE THIS MUCH HARDER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE." As I said the words, they made no sense to me. This wasn't me talking, this was the anger. I took the deepest breath I could manage and counted to five, I didn't have the time to count to ten.

"Jessica," I tried again, "please? I want to talk about this… why have you done it? What's the point?"

My calm approach worked. Jessica stopped and gradually turned her head to face me. However, she didn't move any closer, so I took it upon myself to close the distance in a few motivated strides. I promised myself that I would be cautious not to scare Jessica off again.

I wracked my brains for something to say to her, to start it off, but she beat me to it.

"No need to call me a bitch Bella…"

I bit down on my lip. "Jessica! You've been trying to steal Edward off me and no matter what; you didn't seem to leave it. He doesn't want you and I doubt you really want him. I bet it's just a little crush on your behalf. Why?"

She was the one angry now. "BELLA!? Do you not understand, for goodness sake! When you came here… to this school…"

I waited, eager to hear her little excuses.

"You…" she struggled, "You took everything I have… my popularity, Edward, my happiness to a certain extent."

Her words dazed me. They were more… forceful than I would have thought. They seemed a bit harsh… surely I hadn't taken her _happiness._ "I don't… understand."

She took a deep breath, readying herself for the speech that was sure to come. "Before you came Bella, I was you. I was in the same position as you, minus Edward, but I was happy for it to head that way." As she confessed this, she gave Edward a sheepish look; after all, she had just admitted that she would like him for her own. He was a gentleman as ever, and bowed his head to her. "I had a huge group of friends but now… we're all kind of split in half. I feel like I have to choose between your group and Lauren's group. And it's made me unhappy. And it's your fault—"

"Hang on a minute!" I interrupted.

"No Bella… don't misunderstand! I know that you didn't mean for it to happen like that, you weren't working for that. But still it happened. I figured that by… by _stealing_ Edward, I would be stealing some of your happiness…"

I didn't want to admit how much happiness that would be stealing…

"Do you see where I'm coming from Bella?"

I was stunned. I felt guilty to the pit of my stomach. An apology was in order. "Jess… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"


End file.
